Making Work-Life Balance Real | Brigitte Richard | Episode 786

Brigitte Richard | Episode 786

Brigitte Richard was born and raised in Nürnberg, Germany and has been a potter for 38 years. There Brigitte completed a three year pottery apprenticeship and worked in a ceramic studio for several years. Brigitte is now a studio artist focusing on functional ceramics in San Antonio, Texas.

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Do you prioritize your time differentiating between urgent and important?

I actually am learning it right now. I am working on it. I feel like I haven’t done such a good job. When I get a chance to work I get up early and I might start around 6 a.m. and I work really late and I forget that I am working that late and then my fingers hurt, my back hurts, and it’s not good to do that. I would hope that I would eventually get back to exercising. That kind of got left behind because we have to take care of ourselves. We can’t just work, work, work. I still struggle with the online part. I get a lot of messages and I forget and I am not the best at taking the notes right away and getting back to people. This will take time as there is more exposure and it is a challenge for me because it’s not my strength. This is something I am learning still.

Does that mean you schedule your personal time? Do you put it on the calendar?

Not really. I just go and do and every now and then I get a little overwhelmed and that’s just when I have to talk to myself. Also, the inscriptions that I put in the cups, I am pretty much preaching to myself. It is always like encouragement. I try to uplift, I think life is hard and people go through a lot of things and I really wanted more than to just make a cup. I wanted to add the encouragement to it.

Do you have set work hours and set work days?

No. Because I have grandchildren and a daughter that needs help, because I am the only person who can help her. She had a baby last year and she couldn’t go anywhere with Covid and all. I try to do family first and then sometimes I push hard when I get time to myself. I try hard to say, Okay, at least so many days a week, but sometimes it won’t happen.

It sounds like you know when to take breaks and when to push. Is that accurate?

For sure, I am learning when to say, Okay, now I need to step away. Also if you over do it you get to a little bit of a burn out point and I can’t be creative with I am burned out. Sometimes I say, Well, today we will just go to the park.

Where is your favorite vacation place to go to?

I definitely like to go to Germany, but that’s so far so we might go down to the coast or if you we can Jamaica. That would be nice! (laughter) But my very favorite place is Austria. Somewhere way up hiking. I would take that over a beach.